AID TOWNSHIP - The old cliche goes that, "Where there is smoke, there is fire" - but that is not always such a bad thing.

Employees with the U.S. Forest Service Department of Agriculture and the Wayne National Forest spent Friday were setting ablaze 160 acres of forest in the Bluegrass Ridge area of County Road 19. But controlled burns like this are actually good for the woods.

"This makes the forest healthier. It removes litter and undergrowth from the forest floor, opening up the area," said John Crockett, assistant burn master on the job. "It also promotes the health and vigor of the oak and hickory forests."

The fire experts will burn off leaf piles, litter, brush, downed trees, debris and maple trees that take over the the forests and kill the oaks and hickories, Crockett said.

Preparation for the controlled burn began in March. Approximately 40 forest service employees from the Wayne and other national parks set up a home base Friday morning and completed the burn later that day.

This region of the Wayne was last burned in 1999. Several other areas of the 232,900 acres of the national forest are scheduled for burns later this year, Crockett said.

Ryan Otto of the Hoosier National Forest in Indiana wanted to follow in his father's footsteps to become a fire fighter. He did, but also studied fish and wildlife management. Now, he gets to start fires rather than stop them.

"It is the best job I have ever had. I like coming to work everyday," he said. "It is challenging and exciting. A lot of people do it for the excitement."